WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

Comedian Marc Maron is tackling the most complex philosophical question of our day - WTF? He'll get to the bottom of it with help from comedian friends, celebrity guests and the voices in his own head.

When Marc was getting WTF off the ground, he turned to podcast maven Jesse Thorn for help. A year later, Jesse joins Marc in the garage to talk about the struggle to get Jesse's show The Sound of Young America on public radio stations, the definition of nerd culture, and the anatomy of wasps.

for a radio host, jesse thorn stuffed his sentences with "like" "you know" and "um, um, um" in nearly every sentence. despite his fake-ghetto upbringing, he managed to be as bland and generic as any public-radio personality. come on, marc - fewer "comedians" sitting for an interview and more guests with whom you spark and have chemistry. for now, i'm in it for your opening thoughts and barely hang in for the unfunny white people.

four and a half years ago

jimmyjamesjr

The only thing MORE disappointing than the sound of Diane Rehm's voice is the quality of her guests and the saliency of their discussions. Rehm's political shows are almost entirely filled with DC insiders. The insiders include an A-list of the usual suspects, filled out with NPR's own chattering class of throne-sniffing journos. I fully expect that eventually, Rehm will be retired and replaced by one of NPR's handful of archetypes: (a) feminine-sounding, dramatic male; (b) post-menopausal deep-throated female, (c) know-nothing, ivy-educated hipster.

four and a half years ago

Todd Mason

Diane Rehm's voice is highly unpleasant; it's unusual in comparison to all the smooth voices of NPR, but that doesn't make it any less scratchy (which it has been throughout her career, before her unfortunate health problems kicked in). I'm not sure why this is so offensive if it's so unimportant...in a medium in which a voice can distract from the content of the discussion at hand (or if she had anything but gumption in the face of adversity to offer). But thanks for playing.

four and a half years ago

Carl Clark

@toddmason
Hey back off Diane Rehm buddy. She has the voice of an angel. why don't you go write a thesis on how boring as shit your life must be to have to comment with that much depth on something fairly unimportant.
@MarcMaron
My feeling is if you interviewed more people of color those interviews would began to feel less like a "very special WTF episode" or not. whatever. love the podcast!!

1) A higher than average IQ
2) Pride in point number 1) to such a degree that they would be thought of as intelligent than popular.
3) A strange mixture of arrogance and low self esteem
4) A high degree of knowledge in a specific area or areas, see point 1)
5) Lack of social skills
6) Usually Non smokers, smoking is a social activity, see point 5)
7) A need to post lists on message boards

There you have it, I think Marc, your relation to geeks is that you have had a need in the past to fill various holes in your life with substances. You were medicating yourself to relieve various anxieties. You also have turned this neurotic behaviour into a career, which I think perpetuates the neurosis. No neurosis, no career.

Geeks also fill various voids in their lives, but since they lack the social skills necessary to acquire drugs and alcohol (well drugs anyway), they instead turn to things like computers or comic books, star trek memerobilia, etc. It's all about control, lack of control in one area causes need for massive control in another.

That's my take anyway.

four and a half years ago

Joe Tily

". . . a little clean for me . . ."

Great show. Jesse Thorn interviewed Daniel Clowes on The Sound of Young America podcast in August. It was about where the ideas for his latest book 'Wilson' came from. Interesting interview.

Check it out on www.maximumfun.org/sound-young-america/dan-clowes-comic-artist-wilson-interview-sound-young-america

four and a half years ago

jimmy james jr.

@Todd,
POW! I couldn't agree more.
JJJ

four and a half years ago

Todd Mason

Public radio programmers are uncomfortable with TSOYA also for some of the same reasons they are uncomfortable with Harry Shearer's LE SHOW...neither is a captive creature of public radio syndication or NPR, and neither is as consistently precious as THIS AMERICAN LIFE, particularly, or RADIOLAB occasionally, can be. A miasma of smug whimsey can eminate from NPR at times (if not usually to the degree of Schwetty Balls), which is not helped by the apparent widely-held delusion that the smooth-voiced softest of softball questioning by Terry Gross (too often, the slightly less uninterested younger version of Larry King) is "great interviewing"...while their other netweorked general-chat show folks, unlike Gross, will field listerer telephone calls or even sit in the same studio with their guests on a regular basis, Tom Ashbrook, Diane Rehm, and Neal Conan either can't shut up, are no better informed than Gross is, or frequently miss the point of what is being said to them--too often all three (and Rehm's voice is the worst in the history of national radio).

And even Gross's program can be treated as somehow subversive, as witness the recent hassle with Mississippi Public Radio.

There is good work on terrestrial broadcast radio, on NPR and Pacifica and other US public radion and even infrequently on commercial radio (to say nothing of the BBC and CBC and other national broadcasters), but I do prefer the relative lack of self-censorship online...to say nothing of the greater variety of materials to be heard.

four and a half years ago

jimmy james jr.

I love it when public radio people get uncomfortable criticizing public radio. Notice how Thorn said that it was the best thing ON the RADIO. Damned by faint praise. The RADIO? C'mon now...

four and a half years ago

taz

Great show, Marc!

Just the mention of John Kerry & the Winter Soldier Hearings (hm, that's gotta be a band name suggestion if Kerry ever "gets the band together") made me think: